1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to exercise machines that provide resistance during exercises. More particularly, the present invention relates to exercise machines that use elastic resistive elements and enable the elastic resistive elements to be attached to the exercise machine throughout a wide variety of attachment points.
2. Prior Art Description
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,226,402, the Applicant discloses an exercise machine designed to exercise the muscle groups in the middle and lower torso. The machine uses resistive elements that are anchored to arms that are supported by a vertical post. Similar exercise machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,601,105 to Gipson and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0083395 to Carson. Although all of these prior art machines contain some degree of adjustability, these machines are limited to the performance of only a handful of exercises. Furthermore, although such prior art machines provide resistance through the use of elastic elements, the elastic elements are terminated with handles or poles that must be gripped by a person's hands. As such, a person exercising must grasp a handle or pole in order to obtain resistance.
Many people undergoing rehabilitation and/or specialized training perform exercises that require resistance to unusual movements. For example, a person may need resistance applied to movements of his/her elbow or to movements of his/her lower back. In such instances, exercise machines that require the gripping of a handle cannot be effectively used.
Furthermore, exercises to rehabilitate or train specialized parts of a user's body may require that resistance be applied in an unusual directional vector. In the prior art, the direction of resistance that can be applied by a resistive element exercise machine mainly relies upon the anchor points of the resistive elements. Although these anchor points may be adjustable through small ranges, the anchor points provide significant limitations.
A need therefore exists for an improved exercise machine configuration that utilizes resistive elements, yet has no fixed anchor points for the resistive elements. Rather, the resistive elements attach to articulating anchors that can be selectively attached to the exercise machine at multiple points on the exercise machine. A need also exists for an exercise machine that has resistive elements that can attach to an exercising person at most any point between the head and feet. As such, resistance can be applied to any part of the body in most any direction for rehabilitation and/or specialized training. These needs are met by the present invention as described and claimed below.